Happy Fishermen

Charley Hizer's group brought in some very nice fish last week. It seems that Indian Lake was a little slower than usual for our fishermen last week, but the surrounding lakes offered some great fishing to take up the slack.

New Kid on the Block

Last August we said goodbye to Sabre, our large Beauceron, due to old age problems.  We really like the Beauceron breed because they are an intelligent, loyal family dog, and a good guard/bear dog.

Joanna was able to get another one free from the breeder in California where she got her first Beauceron, Shekinah because she had some physcial issues, so the breeder promised her a free replacement.

John thought it would be nice to have another male, so Joanna put in the order to the breeder requesting a pet quality since it was just going to be a camp dog and we would not be showing it.  There was to be a litter born in February and ready to go in April, which would have worked perfectly for us to pick the puppy up at the Minneapolis airport on our way back from Florida in early May.  We then got word from the breeder that she didn't have enough males in that litter which meant we'd need to wait for the next litter due in July.  However, she was running short on males from that litter too because of her other buyers which was quite disappointing.   

The Beauceron needs lots of socializing to help encourage a well rounded personality.  We knew we had to get the puppy in time for meeting with our summer guests or we'd have to wait another year to get one.

The breeder came up with another idea.  A family in Connecticut had purchased a female show quality Beauceron from her but was concerned because though she was a wonderful dog,  her bite was not quite right and it was considered a fault in the show ring.

The breeder encouraged them to wait just a little longer to see if it corrected itself, but they were impatient and wanted a replacement.  So, the breeder asked if we would like that 12 week old female instead of a male.  We agreed to take her and are so glad we did.  Trinity was flown from Connecticut to Minneapolis the end of  May where Joanna picked her up and brought her home.  Only something happened that changed the original plan.  That cute little puppy endeared herself to Joanna's heart and now she wants to keep her for her own.  She is such a cute, smart , sweet little girl and gets along very well with Scarlett.  They have lots of fun chasing each other around the yard and tusseling to beat the band.  Trinity is bold and confident and just plops right down next to Scarlett to chew on a bone or toy.

The funny thing was that after we had her for only a week, her bite corrected itself is now perfect.  So we ended up with a very nice show quality female Beauceron for free.  You will get to meet her when you come to stay with us this summer.

Wildlife Week

 

Last week was pretty amazing in that folks from our camp were able to see lots of different forms of wildlife in various places in the area.  For a couple of days, a young moose would emerge from the woods across the bay from our camp and eat his way slowly back to the boat landing on that side of the river.  Usually we don't see moose this close to camp when there are so many people around, but he didn't seem to mind.  Our side of the shore was lined with people looking through binoculars or taking pictures of the impressive animal. 

A father and son who were camping here took a walk up the 325 road heading south and came face to face  with the moose as he was attempting to cross the road.   That's what you call a close encounter.  This same moose was seen swimming from the boat landing on the other side to a point in front of the camp. 

One day I was outside talking to some campers when I noticed movement on the far shore.  I looked up and was thrilled to see a mama moose trotting along the edge of the river followed by a wee little calf.  I've never seen such a small moose.  It was a brief viewing because they soon headed into the woods.   Wish I could have captured that on a movie camera.

Some guys headed to Heathwalt were driving along and came across two lynx who were slowly trotting down the road.  The lynx didn't seem too afraid and the guys were able to get some pretty close shots of the pointed ear cats.  Perhaps this is what some other folks saw in the same area when they told Joanna they had seen a mountain lion.  At least I hope so.

Lastly, a guest who was headed back to Ignace for some supplies caught a bear on camera not far from camp.  Ontario has reinstated the spring bear hunt because there were getting to be a lot of nuisance bears in Ignace and other communities with some bears actually attacking people.  So we haven't seen as many bear around this year.  However, a mama bear and three cubs were spotted north of the Pigeon River border walking across the road.  They weren't able to get a picture taken, but said it was fun to see.